Short Update - Lot's of Changes

There are some great changes in the world of Parker, so here they are.

1) They took Parker off the CPAP machine and put him on the nasal canula. He is at a flow of 1 (which is great) and his oxygen is set to 21% (which is room air, what we all breathe) which is awesome.

2) They have moved his feeding tube from his small intestines to his stomach and he is handling that perfectly.

3) They have now started to compress his feeds. Currently, he is being feed through his tube for 2 hours and the he goes 1 hour with out food. This is to introduce the feeling of hunger and full so that he can tell Erik and I in the future when he is ready to eat. He is doing great with this also.

4) He now weighs 1710 grams which is a little over 3 lbs. 12 ounces.

5) Hopefully soon they will be able to introduce a bottle for feeding so that he can learn to actually eat on his own and soon they will start his vaccines that full term babies normally get.

6) He had another eye exam on Tuesday, which he hates but the nurses say he tolerates better the most babies do. He still has a level two ROP but at this point they are just going to watch him. They have said he may need Laser eye surgery but that the ROP could still resolve on it's own as well.

Even with everything that is going on he is doing great. We appreciate all the prayers and support. Please keep them coming. All of our nurses know of our great support group and of our Christianity since we talk of it. With that in mind, our nurse Megan informed us that another family (they are not allowed to give names), lost one of their twins on Monday. She asked if Erik and I and our group could prayer for them and I of told her absolutely.

Love to All.

BOO!!

Well, this was Parker's first Halloween and we were able to dress him up and take off his CPAP for a few minutes for a photo-op. He was splended and looked amazing. Enjoy!

A quick update: Parker is now 1590 grams or roughly 3lbs. 7 ounces. He has been taken off the CPAP and put on a low flow nasal canal and his feeding tube has been moved from his mouth to his nose. Hopefully in the next couple of days they will pull his feeding tube back into his stomach and as long as that goes well they will start timing his feeds instead of having him on a continous feed and they will start introducing a bottle. Cross your fingers.

Hope everyone is well.

Happy Fall!

Big Update

Well, our life has been a little hectic since Parker was born. Sorry for the delay in updates. So, two days before Parker was born Erik and I had a mini vacation in Baltimore. We went to the acquarium and an Orioles game. It was a great time.

Then our little guy arrived after church on Sunday. What a scary but amazing day. Parker Brooks Moden is doing very well. He is now gaining weight and is off the the ventilator. When he was still on the vent we really could not hold him a lot but we did get one opportunity to hold him. Now that he is off the vent we can hold him almost anytime unless he has had a bad day, which would mean that he was needing more oxygen support and was restless all day. So far he has not had many bad days and we were able to hold Parker again yesterday.

Below are photos of our mini vacation and some of Parker. Enjoy.

BALTIMORE:

PARKER BROOKS MODEN:

Parker Brooks Moden

As most of you already know, Parker Brooks Moden is here!!

We are updating a blog provided by the hospital to us, specifically for him. If you have not received the email with the link and I would like to see updates on his status please just shoot me and email and we will get you the link.

Hope everyone is doing well.

God Bless!

Erik's 1st Post!!!

It took me a little over year, but Rebecca was finally able to convince me to post on our blog. I know, I know...what took me so long. Well, all that's important, is that I'm posting now, and that you all can enjoy my witty writing.

So what's new in the land of the Modens?

First comes baby Moden! Parker or Katherine is growing, growing, growing...and with growing baby comes growing Rebecca.

Here she is on July 26th @ 19 weeks and 5 days

To every ones amazement (and some envy), she is still wearing her regular jeans. She has however, begrudgingly started to leave her jeans unbuttoned while wearing her belly band.

We had our 20 week sonogram this week, a few days early, and were completely blown away by the experience! All hands, feet, arms, and legs were accounted for, and were growing just as they should be. Our sonogram technician said the baby has my nose, but I just felt lucky to be able to locate the nose.

Actually, the sonogram was very clear, and because the baby is still fairly translucent, we were even able to see individual bones. Seeing it's spine was probably the most dramatic. We asked not to be told the sex of the baby, and of coarse once it started, we wanted to know...but we stuck to our guns and now can only speculate as to what we may or may not have seen.

Here are the a few of the new photos: Baby Moden - 19 Weeks and 3 Days

I'm quite familiar with the photos, and am aware of what they are, but for those of you who haven't been staring at them (dumbfounded by how this little baby of ours is moving around inside Rebecca) , here is an explanation.

Baby Face - Our baby is sleeping with it's hand curled up under it's chin. You can see the eyes, nose, mouth, and right shoulder.

Baby Arm - Here you can see our babies right arm reaching up in front of it's face. You can see the translucency of the skin exposing the humerus bone.

Sleepy Time - Hopefully our baby will like to sleep (like Rebecca), but then get up early and keep themselves occupied by cleaning (like me.)

In this photo, our baby is reaching up to scratch it's eye. You can see it's right shoulder, arm, and hand, as well as it's mouth and nose.

And so the accumulation of STUFF begins.

I'm glad the baby's room has a big closet, because I'm a neat freak and won't be able to handle having crap all over the house.

Both old and new, we have our first few clothing items. Some of which were mine when I was a baby, and others are impulse buys we just couldn't pass up the last few months.

We have both been doing a lot of reading, taking in as much information as humanly possible. Of coarse, we have also been inundated with opinions on how to raise a child. Most of which are valid and very much appreciated, but some are aggressive and a little over the top. All you new parents out there, you know what I'm talking about! HAHA.

The baby's room transformation is complete and the furniture has been ordered. More photos to come later.

Lastly, because we don't have enough stress in our lives, a partner and I have decided to start our own business.

Outdoor Spaces Landscape Design (The most likely candidate for our name) will be a two person operation designing residential pools, decks, patios, walkways, retaining walls, etc. and subcontracting the installation.

We are still in the research phase, but are hoping launch this fall. Wish us luck!

Well, hopefully that is enough for now. I should do this more often! We'll fill you in again soon.

Love,
Erik

June 11th Appointment with OBGYN!

Well everyone, we had our next appointment with the OBGYN (Dr. Stokes) this morning. It went very well. It was a little scary at first because Dr. Stokes could not find the heart beat. So, we went to another sonogram and there our little baby was just flipping around in my belly and having a great time. Below we have a few more pictures since we were able to get another sonogram.

As it turns out, Dr. Stokes could not hear the baby's heartbeat because my blatter is pushing the baby up higher in my stomach then most women experience so he was basically looking for it in the wrong place. With the machine (no idea what it's called) we could finally hear the heartbeat after we new where the little rascal was hiding and we were able to record it on my cellphone. I tried to upload it to the blog but was unable to so, I will send it via email to everyone I have. If you don't get it and want to hear is just shoot me an email and I can send it to you. There is a lot of noise because I could not stop laughing because I was so excited. But if you listen to the whole thing you can hear it really well at the end.

Well we hope you enjoyed our first experience with the baby's heartbeat. It was moving at 135bpm this time and measuring at 7 sonometers (I think that's what he called them). So our little one is right on track and everything is going great.

Hope everyone is doing well and I am sure I will talk with you soon.

Love, Erik, Rebecca, Smokey, Dusty, Shadow, Ghost and "IT" (Baby Moden)

Aging, Changing House, Body and Baby!!!!

Well life has been a little wild here in Virginia. Lot's of stuff going on and it's pretty hard for Erik and I to keep up.

First, changes in our house. We finally decided to have new carpet installed because the old carpet was ugly and probably pretty nasty with two dogs and two cats. Here's what the new carpet looks like now.

Next, we decided to have new windows installed because the old windows were about 30 years old. In the winter the let the cold air in and in the summer they let the hot air in and we had to use 2x4's to hold them open, at least the ones that we were able to get open. Below, please view the beautiful before and after photos.

Before:

After:


Last, we started working on the nursery. We painted the walls and added beadboard and a chair rail.

Second, in the Moden household, Erik turned 30. To surprise him I sent him golfing with his friend Andrew and then had all are friends come over to the house that afternoon for a cookout. We had a wonderful time. Sorry, I was so busy having fun and coordinating everything I forgot to take pictures.

Last, Erik and I had are last appointment with Dr. Khan our fertility doctor on Monday and our first appointment with our OBGYN today. At the last appointment with Dr. Khan we had our second sonogram. The baby, my uterus and the heart beat all changed rapidly. The heartbeat jumped from 129 bpm last time (2 weeks ago) to 176 bpm on Monday. It was crazy to watch how fast the heart fluttered on the sonogram. Below you can see how much the baby has grown since last time as well and if you know me very well you can see how much I have grown too. I have already put on 8 pounds and am weighing in at a whopping 113.

Baby:

Belly:


Well, I hope everyone is doing well. I will keep you posted on my growing belly. Our next doctors appointment isn't until June 11th so we have a little while to wait this time.

God Bless!

Update from the Modens!

Well, sorry it has been two months since my last post but life has been crazy for a while. As most of you already know, Erik and I have been going through fertility treatments trying to have a baby. Well our most recent IVF treatment, I am pleased to say was a success and Erik and I are expecting our first child on December 15, 2009. We are 7 weeks and 1 day pregnant.

We had our first sonogram on Monday and everything looked great. They said that it (people make fun because I call the baby "it") is measuring at a good size and it's heart rate was 129 bpm which is supposed to be well into the healthy range.

The most exciting part was that we received our first baby picture and I have already found a place on the refrigerator for it.

We go back to the doctor on the 11th for another sonogram and then I am scheduled to see my regular OBGYN on the 13th.

We hope everyone is doing well and we thank you for all your prayers and support.

Happy Spring!

Skiing in Utah!!!

Well, it has been a while but life has been a little busy. It never seems to slow down but I am sure I am preaching to the choir when I say stuff like that.

This past weekend Erik and I took a couple of days off and went out to Park City, Utah with Krista and her husband Paul and some other friends to go skiing.

On day one, Thursday, Erik and I went to ski at The Canyons. This was my first time skiing in Utah and Erik helped me challenge myself of the double black diamond called the Yard Sale. From what I know about a Yard Sale while skiing it basically means that you whipe out and lose all your gear from your skis to you poles to your hat and goggles.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2172/2241493668_e1a21ea34a_b.jpg

Laugh all you want, luckily that did not happen to me.

After a nice lunch break, Erik and I decided to do some hiking to ski as well. This is where I called it quits.

Erik kept climbing,

And Climbing,

Until he finally made it to the top.

He did all this work and it only took seconds to ski back down.

We had a great time. However, to end the perfect day, clumsy Rebecca decided to fall on the ice entering the condo and jam her shoulder. So basically that was it for me and the skiing. My arm is feeling better so no need to worry. I know that you all are shocked and upset by this turn of events. The up side to this was that on Friday, I was able to go shopping and get a massage. Erik on the other hand decided to be insane on Friday and he went on a back country tour called the Interconnect Tour through Ski Utah.

http://www.skiutah.com/interconnect/

I will let him make another post with photos of that because he was there and can better explain his insanity. I do know he had a great time and that it was the experience of a lifetime.

On Saturday, we both took it easy. We lucked out and the Olympic Park was hosting the final races for the World Cup Bobsled tournament so we were able to go and watch them. It was amazing and cold. I was sure they were going to have to cut off some of my fingers aftering being out there for so long.

On the last day we went to Alta. Erik skied alone but I am sure he did not mind being able to ski all the harder runs that I can not. He took pictures that day too but again I will let him post them since he knows what they are.

We took the redeye home on Sunday night, which I will NEVER do again, but we survived. Now its back to the grind. We'll post some more soon. Hope everyone is doing well and that we can get to see you all soon.

Love Ya!

I've Been Tagged!

The Rules:


1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder.

3) Explain the picture.

4) Tag 4 people to do the same.

(This is Andrea a friend of ours here in D.C. at our house for Erik's 28th birthday (2 years ago). We were roasting marshmallows (I believe it was Andrea's first time.) Sitting behind her is Dan another friend that lives in Hamilton with us.)

I am tagging Kate and Tim and Kevin and Genny!

Later!

A Rough Few Weeks!

Well, as most of you already know our first attempt at IVF was unsuccessful. However, Erik and I are still really optimistic. We met with our doctor last Friday and he gave us the go ahead to start a second treatment. The doctor's have been great and learned a lot from our first cycle.

Apparently, my body tends to over react to the medication and last time they had to continue to adjust my dosing. The doctor feels that these adjustments are probably the cause for the failure of our first attempt. With this knowledge they will be able to better regulate my response by adjusting the dosing before we start the cycle. The next cycle will begin in February. The "fresh" cycles take two months so we will know in April whether our second attempt was a success. I will try and keep the blog updated with our progress as we go.

On some other bad news, Saturday, the 10th, my grandmother passed away. Luckily, I happened to be in South Carolina for business and was able to make it to the Hospice center about a 1/2 hour before she passed so I had a chance to see her one more time. I had to leave for Montreal on Monday but was able to return to Georgia for the funeral and visitation on Wednesday and Thursday. The service was beautiful and everything went really well. My grandmother was an amazing woman and I will truly miss her.

Will update again soon. Hope every one's new year is going well.

Christmas & A Wedding!

Well, this Christmas was very exciting for us. First, we went to a tree farm in Round Hill and cut down our Christmas tree. It was a lot of fun but really cold.

For Christmas this year everyone came to Virginia and we had Christmas dinner at our house. Luckily, Erik's mom still cooked.

After Christmas we celebrated my brother Tim’s wedding to Kate. Below we have included some pictures from the Rehearsal dinner as well as the wedding.

Well that's all for now. Hope everyone had a great holiday.

Take Care!